While all the songs on No Paid Holidays are worth listening to, the one that stood out the most for me was Slim's version of the Laura Nyro tune "And When I Die". Years ago David Clayton Thomas and Blood, Sweat, & Tears had a hit with this song, doing it as an up-tempo, pop song with a full horn section. It was very dynamic and uplifting, much in the same way really good gospel music can carry you away. Instead of trying to compete with that, Slim has gone the opposite route and performs a nearly acappella version that is just as powerful in its simplicity.

I can't really put my finger on what it was about the way he sings it, but from the very first note to the last he had my complete attention. Unlike the Blood, Sweat, & Tears version which was very slick and polished, Watermelon's version is rough-hewn and raw, It sounds like each word is costing him, as he struggles to express what he needs to say about a subject that none of us really like to talk about. Yet, at the same time you can hear the dogged determination in his voice that says how important it is for him to say it. He sounds like anyone of us would sound trying to deal with something particularly difficult.

Watermelon Slim And The Workers may or may not be a hard working band, but I do know that they are musically one of the tightest bands you're liable to hear in any genre. On No Paid Holidays they are joined by special guests Dave Maxwell on piano for a couple of cuts and Lee Roy Parnell on electric slide guitar for "Bubba's Blues". Yet, what makes this band, and Watermelon Slim in particular, so distinctive isn't what they do, but how they do it.

In the early days of modern theatre, back in the middle ages, they used to do performances of religious plays featuring a character called "Everyman" who represented all of humanity. It's a ridiculous conceit to think that one person can represent the experiences of a whole species, but a person can speak with a voice that is familiar enough that we all recognize at least some of what he's saying. No Paid Holidays proves once again that Watermelon Slim can sing a song in such a way that nearly anybody can identify with it. He and the Workers can rock the house and break your heart, and do it in a way that we can all understand.